1. Cross-Post: "We Got This," featuring take aways from the United State of Women Conference

From: Christina Richey via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

This feature is a re-post from The Huffingpost, and is hosted on the Huffington Post’s Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work and post freely to their site. The original piece can be found here.

About the author: Kimberly Arcand is Visualization Lead for the Chandra X-ray Observatory. She is a co-author of popular science books including “Light: The Visible Spectrum and Beyond“ and “Your Ticket to the Universe: A Guide to Exploring the Cosmos.”

Last month, I was honored to attend an extraordinary event: the United State of Women Summit convened by the White House. Since the word “summit” means a pinnacle, this couldn’t have been more appropriate for how I viewed this day and the amazing attendees I was able to share it with.

The United State of Women Summit brought together leaders in all different professional fields – from politics to entertainment, from science to finance. The common thread among all of the participants, however, was easy to find: everyone there wanted to continue to foster and enhance the opportunities for girls and women in whatever endeavors they may choose to pursue.

Katherine Alatalo, a graduate student in astronomy at the University of California–Berkeley, spent months wondering what was wrong with her. Why did she feel anxious and unfocused? Why couldn’t she get any work done? And then, a late-night G-chat conversation with a fellow student made her realize what was causing her such distress: Her friend relayed a conversation she’d had with other students and a professor, where they had discussed a different professor and how he had a “fascination with” Alatalo’s breasts. That the professor mentioned his colleague’s “obsession” at all, let alone in casual conversation, made Alatalo’s friend furious—“it was totally inappropriate,” Alatalo’s friend wrote. It was then—with the help of her friend’s outrage—that she realized the problem. She was being sexually harassed.

Back to top.3. What Happens When a Harassment Whistleblower Goes on the Science Job Marketby Sarah Scoles

From: Heather Flewelling [heather_at_ifa.hawaii.edu]

When astronomer Sarah Ballard walked onto the University of California, Berkeley, campus for an academic job interview in February, it was a homecoming. She had attended college there, walking to class underneath the Seussian London plane trees as the campanile chimed periodically in the background.

Berkeley had made her the exoplanet-studying scientist she was. It had taught her well, prepared her for graduate school, and propelled her into a successful career, including her current position at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It had, in fact, prepared her so well that she was back, being considered for a professorship at one of the country’s top astronomy departments. And what a nice narrative—to have come full circle.

The first footsteps on the Moon were one giant step for 'man', but from the early days of aeronautics women have also been involved in space travel. In Women with the Right Stuff, presenter, pilot and aspiring astronaut Wally Funk pays tribute to the pioneers, meets some of those involved within today’s space industry, and hears from the woman who might be among the crew for the first human mission to Mars.

Back to top.6. Really? You don’t look like a scientist.by Katherine Lindemann

From: Heather Flewelling [heather_at_ifa.hawaii.edu]

Research shows women who look feminine are judged less likely to be scientists. Women in science have plenty of anecdotal evidence that looking feminine and “looking like a scientist” at times seem mutually exclusive. They’ve revealed their professions at parties to be met with surprise, been asked where the professor is in their own university offices, thought maybe they shouldn’t wear a dress to that conference. Now there’s scientific evidence as well. A recent paper in the journal Sex Roles reveals that people viewing photos of real researchers are more likely to associate women with non-science occupations if they appear more feminine. Lead author Sarah Banchefsky of the University of Colorado Boulder tells us more.